Channel Update and The Post-Apocalyptic Garbage Heap (Patreon)

Howdy folks! Today's stream-of-consciousness blog post will cover a few things:

Scorched Basin

Bad packaging or just a lack of interest?

Appreciating positive comments

Scaling down

The next homebrew

Scorched Basin

Real quick, if you haven't seen it yet, my latest Trigun video was sponsored by the fine folks at Homie and the Dude! Supporting their Scorched Basin project also supports the channel!

LINK: 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/homieandthedude/scorched-basin?ref=16bvjo

Bad Packaging or Just a Lack of Interest?

As much as I don't want to start with the bad stuff, I wanna get it out of the way first. The past few weeks have been... challenging, to say the least. 

I've alluded to this in my previous blog post, but other than middling/low views, the shop sales have been pretty low in general outside of Kamen Rider. This matters, if only because sales are the second-best way for the channel to earn consistently outside of memberships (and the occasional sponsorships, which I'll get to in a bit). 

Recent videos have also been middling at best. My most recent video (Trigun) is clawing its way past 8 of 10, while popular anime like DanDaDan had a pretty lukewarm introduction with the Okarun video, and a really cold reception with the Ayase Momo video.

The Momo video is sitting at 9 of 10

Admittedly, I'm probably letting the numbers get to me. I've heard some very successful creators say, "Don't think of the numbers, just create what you want!" And while that's a great sentiment, it's hard to stick to that when the growth and monetary aspect of being a creator is hampered by low numbers.

Granted, I should acknowledge that I'm in a privileged enough position that I can actually create content and still earn a somewhat livable amount (not from YT ads, mind you), so I can't whinge on the channel's performance too much.

This isn't anybody's fault, of course. What I'm really trying to get at is, I can't tell whether I'm packaging the videos poorly, or there just isn't a lot of interest in character homebrew right now. I don't think they're bad videos by any stretch, and I don't think my designs were lacking, either. 

Appreciating Positivity

Shifting gears away from the bad stuff, I do want to acknowledge the folks who leave positive and uplifting comments in my videos.

I'm especially appreciative of comments that mention enjoying MC's new sections, since they're fairly new. You folks keep my head out of the "video bad, channel dead" spiral, and I can't thank you enough for your positivity. 

Scaling Down

Don't be alarmed! This isn't me scaling back on releases or whatnot. But I did find out something interesting from my analytics. Take a look:

Viewers by device type in the last 90 days

A majority of you folks have apparently been watching from your mobile phones! And this made me think about how my editing currently looks. The current state of my Action Cam has quite a few numbers and text involved. Same with the cards that I show for features and such. They all look ok on desktop, but on mobile, the text looks really small. 

So, where does "scaling down" come in? I'm thinking of scaling down my editing. I'm admittedly quite apprehensive about this move, since other creators have complimented me on my editing, but ultimately, I feel like I'm putting in a lot of work for footage that might not be visible for a good majority of the channel's audience.

My Action Cam will still be around, but likely in a form that's a little easier for mobile viewers without hampering the desktop experience. 

You probably won't see any changes in style in the next video, but the recent performance of the channel and seeing the numbers on viewer behavior/retention really made me rethink my current strategy.

Of course, if you think I'm off the mark about this, do let me know!

The Next Homebrew

But enough about YT business stuff, let's talk about my next homebrew! If you haven't noticed from this blog's thumbnail, I'll be working on a Gachiakuta-inspired homebrew next. It's a cool post-apocalyptic (ish) setting where a massive class divide has people living in two very different places. One is a clean and almost sterile city in the sky, while the other is a literal dumping ground where the sky folks throw their refuse and ne'er-do-wells, creating an entire society that thrives on discarded objects.

Of course, this being an adaptation of a shounen battle manga, there are powers to be had and hotheaded boys and girls to be fought! And Gachiakuta's power system of unleashing the memories stored within objects is brought to life by the Studio Bones' incredibly stylized visuals.

Anime Mary Poppins just hits different

I'm kind of on the fence as to whether I want to make another Fighter, or take a shot at the Ranger this time around, but I wanna give the latter a bit more love.

If you wanna see it early, consider becoming a $5 member! It also gets you free access to all the shop's items!